Tis the season to be merry and to get heavy! Here at NRP, we have been asking a bunch of your favorite musicians, “What their most memorable Christmas moment was?” Check out the responses below!
DAY 1:
Jason Bittner (Shadows Fall, Burning Human)
Probably 1982 when I got a set of Paiste RUDE hi hats for Xmas- that’s what Clive Burrr used, and of course I need THOSE same hi hats to play “Run to the Hills” correctly!!
http://www.facebook.com/shadowsfall - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Burning-Human/104312009600719
Chris Drapeau (Thy Will Be Done)
I had just finished up Christmas dinner with my family and I was headed back to RI to meet up with the TWBD camp to finish the second half of our run with Hatebreed and Agnostic Front. I pulled into a rest stop, took a mammoth dump, and then dropped my phone into the toilet. I proceeded to reach in and grab it, rip the battery out of it, and tried to dry it with the hand dryer. In the mean time, the woman running this small rest stop came right in and started spraying my phone, and my hands, with some sanitizer shit. While this is going on, a bus filled with tourists pull into the rest stop and this mob of people come blasting in to take a piss, and there I was with my phone in pieces getting sanitized by this old lady. bless her heart for keeping me and my phone free of germs, but I was then asked by every single person coming in… “drop your phone in the toilet???” Then to top it all off my sister and brother in law stopped into the rest stop as well and she called me a dipshit in front of all of these tourists. More of an embarrassing moment…definitely memorable though. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year….leave your phone in the car.
http://www.facebook.com/thywillbedone
Mike D’Antonio (Killswitch Engage, Death Ray Vision)
When I was heavily into Martial Arts (5th grade), My mom secretly had her boss buy me a samurai sword while in Japan. This was the one thing I never thought I would get from my mom (she is very anti weapon). She busted it out as the last present, and it made my year…. I could not stop staring at it.
http://www.facebook.com/killswitchengage - http://www.facebook.com/DeathRayVision
Day 2:
Dan Bourke (Stray From The Path)
Mine would have to be a long time ago when my parents were still together and made lots of money, literally my entire living room floor was covered in presents. I remember getting playstation 1 and a new bike that year too. It was so sick. than they seperated and I chose to be a musician so now we’re all broke asses.haha oh well, merry effin christmas!
http://www.facebook.com/Strayfromthepath
Sean Duffy (Widow Sunday)
I’d have to say the most memorable Christmas was the year 1998 when I was 12. I had been playing bass for a couple years and after listening to every single Slayer album over and over I finally decided I wanted to pick up a guitar. So my mom and I went to Guitar Center in Framingham and there it was, the BC Rich Warlock NJ Series that I had been obsessed with for months. She bought it that day for me. However, it was the beginning of December and I couldn’t play it until Christmas day! You could imagine for a 12 year old, waiting 2 weeks seemed like an eternity. Here it is, Christmas morning at 4am and I run downstairs to scope out the present situation and there it was all wrapped up. I obviously knew what it was cause of all the spikes. That was it, from that moment on I never put down the guitar. I practiced every single day and pretty much went into hiding in my bedroom playing for hours straight. I will never forget that Christmas, and if it wasn’t for that day I probably wouldn’t be where I am today.
http://www.facebook.com/widowsunday
Below is a Cover Duffy has done in the past:
Noah Robertson (The Browning)
Not too long ago, I loaded my car up with drums and clothes and moved out to Hollywood California with my old band, Surrealism (Srlsm). We were living in a practice space and showering at the local YMCA…needless to say it was br00tal! Christmas time rolled around and we found ourselves clear across the country from our friends and family. Luckily I had made friends with several musicians and artists who were in the same boat, and we all decided to have a “Festivus For The Rest of Us” party on Christmas Day. Basically just a bunch of broke struggling musicians drinking keg beer, barbecuing hotdogs, playing beer pong, and freestyle jamming rock and jazz tunes! I never would have thought I’d be 1500 miles from home on christmas day, in Hollywood, drunk, wearing a Santa hat, and playing the drums. Great memories! Shortly after that I answered a Craig’s list posting to join my current band The Browning, moved back to Dallas, Texas, wrote an album, went on tour, got a call from Earache Records, and the rest is history!!! Happy Holidays wherever you may be!!! Never let your dreams die, because you can do anything you set your mind to!!!
http://www.facebook.com/TheBrowningOfficial
Andrew Mikhail (Serpents)
When my family split up on christmas eve…or when I got a coffin case on christmas morning.
http://www.facebook.com/weareserpents
Day 3:
Dave Carlino (Razormaze)
This photo is from the first morning of our winter tour. The night prior, we played in Philly and went to Nicks grandparents house, which was the most absurdly decorated place I’ve ever see. We knew we were in for an awesome night as soon as we stumbled in and Nicks grandma woke up to feed us an ungodly amount of amazing food while slamming brews. It was a good start to the tour, and got our holiday bells ringin’. The next morning they made us take so many of these photos and this is the one in which we look the most like human beings. Happy holidays, fuckweasels.
http://www.facebook.com/razormaze
Pete Webber (Havok)
My most memorable Xmas might actually be this one coming up! I was not even supposed to be going back to Massachusetts because of a conflicting tour, but it ended up not happening.. I rarely see my family so this should be a special one!
http://www.facebook.com/HavokOfficial
Jonah Livingston (Ramming Speed)
We ended up booking our current tour from November 30th right up to New Years Eve when we get home to Boston. It just so happens that we’re going to be in Orlando on Christmas eve where were playing an annual December 24th rager at Will’s Pub. On the day of Christ’s birth, when most will be kissing their family members and opening presents, we’re going to eat mushrooms and go to Universal Studios. Hopefully no one gets arrested. Happy holidays!
http://www.facebook.com/rammingspeed
Day 4:
Ryan Butler (Landmine Marathon)
Christmas is very controversial in the Landmine camp. We’re all very anti religious and everyone in the band hates Christmas…….except me. haha. With my mom being passed away and my dad living in a remote city in Montana that I can’t afford to get to, it often just is way for me to have a lot of nostalgia. I grew up in a religious household. My mother was studying to be a Methodist Minister when she passed away when I was 19, but my dad didn’t go to church and just kinda went along with whatever she was into. He was big into Christmas and into making it awesome for us. Christmas was a huge celebration in my family, but was never really overly religious and more centered around family and the kids. But I do remember being overly pissed off about a couple Christmases falling on a Sunday and my mom making us go to Church. Picking just one Christmas memory is a challenge for me as most of my Christmases were pretty awesome as a kid. I think when I was 15 or 16, my mom did a big Ebullition Records order for me for Christmas and I got a bass probably two years before. Those were awesome scores, but Christmas in general just makes me feel good and is my favorite time of year. So lame for a guy with a huge Venom collection. haha.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Landmine-Marathon/32804344498
Tim Brault (Hivesmasher)
I FLIPPED out when I got a Super Nintendo the Christmas after it came out, and by flipped out I mean running around in circles screaming at the top of my lungs while clutching the package to my chest. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier–and I haven’t owned another game system ever since.
http://www.facebook.com/HIVESMASHER
Peter “Blue” Spinazola (Sexcrement, Parasitic Extirpation, Dysentery)
So searching through my marijuana addled brain I managed to come up with a specific memory that makes me sound like a feckin’ hard assed metal dude/kid. Here it is:
I had to be probably 12 or 13, and I had already spent my childhood years being enamored with my parents hard rock collection filled with Led Zeppelin, Queen & early Aerosmith records. After a while of searching for more of this rifftastic stuff I had finally discovered your standard thrash & heavy metal fare (Slayer, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, blah blah blah). But one band I was ridiculously obsessed with at the time (as with most kids my age at the time i’m sure) was the mighty Metallica. I had seen their video for ‘One’ late at night and it scared the piss out of me enough to go to my local library and make a cassette (remember those? probably not) copy of ‘…and Justice For All,’ complete with photo copied cover. Needless to say, I was hooked. In my endless search to pick up all things Metallica, I was starting to blow all allowance and petty chore money on tapes, magazines & all the other fine things pertaining to the band. One item though I simply couldn’t obtain through my piddling means was the recently released ‘Binge & Purge’ boxed set, which towered over me financially at the large price tag of SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS. I wasn’t going to be able to snag it until I was rich and successful as rock star obviously. Months passed, and the Pandora’s Box of heaviness slowly faded from my mind as I kept on piling up my cassette collection. Then the holidays rolled around and the only thing on my mind for Christmas was Super Nintendo games, as there was no way in hell that my parents would encourage my enthusiasm with that obnoxious crap that I called ‘music.’ The mighty presents day finally arrived, and of course like any typical American child I rushed downstairs (at 6 AM i’m sure much to my parents chagrin) to stare at the bounty that laid before me. As I rummaged through the sea of wrapping paper, bows & tree needles which had covered the floor, I came to a heavy box. I mildly freaked, as I could already tell what awaited me through the festive covering. I pooped a little inside as I saw that grey road case looking carboard box staring at me. I had finally obtained my coveted holy grail of distortion & ‘yeah-heahs,’ I felt like I had won the battle. The majority of my day then consisted of avoiding my family as I feverishly watched every minute of VHS tape, specifically the Seattle show from their ‘…And Justice…’ tour. I practically diddled myself from the awesomeness which glowed before me though the magic television box. The following weeks/months riding the bus I continually spun the CDs (which were a very new format, making me sound old once again) in my headphones pretending I was playing in front of tons of people to my favorite tunes.
This is probably one of the most vivid Christmas (or Holiday if you’re PC as fuck) memories I have, as it really sparked my obsession with the electric guitar/bass which still rules my life to this day. Not to mention all that stupid metal stuff that I’ll never grow out of. Cool Story Bro, The End.
http://www.facebook.com/sexcrement - http://www.facebook.com/dysenterygrind - http://www.facebook.com/parasiticextirpationband
Day 5:
Stavros Giannopoulos (The Atlas Moth, Twilight)
Unfortunately, from the story telling perspective, My family christmas moments have always been pretty “typical”. But a couple years ago, I was sitting at home on Christmas night and I got a phone call from Greg who plays in Plague Bringer/Anatomy of Habit telling me he had gotten the new issue of Decibel and we had gotten a review in it. That was the first time they had covered us whatsoever and it was our first EP which we released on this tiny label from Boston, so I was pretty stoked to see it in there.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Atlas-Moth/51536261736
Tim Bradley (Orwell)
My favorite part of Christmas is getting our tree. For the past few years my fiance and I have started a tradition of going to a local farm to actually cut one down. The best part of the tradition in my opinion is that we take our dog Maximus with us and let him pick out said tree. Watching families joyously gather and weigh out the goods and bads of all of the trees while our dog scampers around and takes a nice hot piss on the one we will then cut down and take home gets more rewarding everytime. Merry Christmas, and may your tree’s trunk be warm and wet.
http://www.facebook.com/orwellwi
Devin Charette (Lunglust)
This Christmas was a five or six years back. Back then I was way more crazy than I am today. I’m still bat shit crazy, but there isn’t even an adjective for how crazy I was back then. I bought strip of acid from a friend of mine a few weeks before this Christmas I will tell you about. The plan was that me and my two roommates at the time would all meet up after Christmas dinner with our families and trip. We were to meet up at this bar nearby, known for having girls who are just as dirty as the lines for the draft beers, to have a couple drinks before we go off on this journey together. Around ten, we were all together, ready to pound these beers and get back to the apartment. It wasn’t even fifteen minutes before we had three beers down the hatch. I got the nod. It was a nod only friends who take acid together know. I nodded back knowing that my roommate was asking me if I had the acid with me and wanted to take it now. This nod also meant that we had to run to the bathroom together like a group of girls who do whatever the fuck girls do in the bathroom together. I had five hits; one for roommate #1, one for roommate #2, two for me, and one to save for later. I didn’t end up saving that last hit. Either I took it, lost it, or gave it away. Who knows? It doesn’t really matter.
The original plan was to go back to the apartment and listen to Oceanic by Isis or watch the DVD of A Sun That Never Sets by Neurosis, but we decided to stay and drink until the shit kicked in and we would walk back while the acid was just starting to kick in and and be full on tripping for one of the two musical experiences we had planned out for ourselves. By the time my roommates were feeling it, I was full on tripping balls because I took an extra hit. People at the bar must have thought I was insane, but I kept telling them that I woke up early that day and was just overtired. Yeah right! Some Christmas movie was being played on the TV. You know the one where some orphan kid live a horrible life and Santa comes and changes the kids life by getting him back together with his family. ”Hey Devin, I’m feeling it. We gotta go.” said one of my roommates. I couldn’t even comprehend what I was being asked. Laughing my ass off from hearing this alien language, I just stared at my roommate like he was clown showing me some goofy prank. I was just ruining this kids trip right then. I couldn’t leave, this kid needed to go, and it’s an unwritten rule that you can’t leave your tripping friend behind on the battlefield of the real world. Everyone tripping has to stay together, but eventually I ended up being left behind because no one could get through to me. I was fully engulfed in this Christmas movie. In this trip, I became the orphan. I needed to meet Santa to ask for one thing for Christmas. I was just with my family earlier that night, but I needed to meet my parents just like the kid in the movie. Tripping my ass off, I walked around this bar crying. I was going up to people and telling them how I was an orphan and how the one thing I wanted for Christmas was to meet my parents. Apparently, I was asking people to meet Santa because he was the only person who could get me in touch with my parents. Of course someone eventually came in dressed up like Santa and I ended up giving him my sob story. I couldn’t believe people took the time to listen to me. When I encounter people that fucked up, I just try to get them the fuck away as soon as I possibly can. I woke up the next afternoon in my bed to the girl I was dating at the time, who was pissed as fuck at me. She had to go to this bar Christmas night and pick me up because no one there wanted to call the cops on me or have me brought to the hospital. Someone called her telling her that I was too drunk. She knew I bought that acid the week before and she knew exactly why she had to come pick me up. She had to get me home safe and tell me that I wasn’t an orphan and that she was at Christmas dinner with me and my parents earlier. I don’t know how she did it and I can’t remember any of it.
It took weeks for her to forgive me for being such an asshole that night. I don’t know how long it’ll be before people forget about this, but it won’t be anytime soon. You can still go to that bar and if you talk to the right bartender on the right night, he will give you his side of this very same story. This is a Christmas night in the life of Devin from Lunglust.
http://www.facebook.com/lunglust
Jesse Matthewson (Ken Mode)
Xmas 1995. That was the year that my parents got my brother and I a Fender Squier Precision bass, Traynor 10 watt practice amp, and DOD Grunge Bass pedal. This was the first electric guitar I ever owned and it marked the point of no return. I had just turned 14 at the time, and had been playing piano for the past 9 years. I first expressed an interest in playing guitar at least a year prior, but my parents didn’t want to spend money on what could possibly be a passing phase. I played my dad’s acoustic for a year and a half before finally getting this bass. The bass that would serve as the official KEN mode bass for the first two years of the band’s existence. That Xmas, my parents officially created a monster.
http://www.facebook.com/kenmode
Day 6:
Michael Hill (Tombs)
I grew up with this older dude named Ron who kind of took me under his wing and introduced me to a lot of great music. Bands like Rush, Van Halen, Yes, April Wine and all of those killer bands from the 70’s. He taught me to see the distinction between bands like Journey and bands like Mountain; he also further schooled me on the fact that REO Speedwagon was a kick-ass rock band before they cashed in and started churning out high school dance hits like “Keep on Lovin’ You” and “Take it on the Run.” One day he played me this record called “Jailbreak” by a band called Thin Lizzy and I was blown away by it. The harmonized guitars and killer riffs really had their hooks in me. At the time, I was about 13 years old, so I didn’t have a source of income, my lucrative lawn mowing business was shutdown because it was December and in New York State, back then at least, we usually had about a foot of snow on the ground and lawn care was a distant memory from a forgotten season.
My Mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas. When I was putting together my list, I put down “Jailbreak” by Thin Lizzy. I remember my parents thinking that Thin Lizzy was an odd name for a band. The tradition in my family has been to open our gifts on Christmas Eve after midnight so midnight came, we distributed our gifts and sure enough, I got a cassette copy of “Jailbreak” by Thing Lizzy. Future Christmas gifts from my parents included Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”, Led Zeppelin II, Black Sabbath’s “Heaven and Hell”, all on cassette! My parents, though not necessarily appreciative of heavy rock, were always supportive of my expeditions into the realm of music. I usually got music for Christmas and I can’t help but think that this somehow motivated me to make my own music.
http://www.facebook.com/TombsBklyn
Mallika Sundaramurthy (Abnormality)
One Christmas that stands out for me was when I was in second grade. It was a rough time for us, my mom was a single mother of four, and we were all living in this tiny 2 bedroom apartment. Money was tight. I wasn’t expecting much for Christmas. Somehow we were giving some toys from a charity. I don’t know which. All the gifts were wrapped, with labels like “7 year old girl” or “ten year old boy.” I opened one, it was a Barbie doll. I hated Barbie dolls, haha. But it didn’t matter. I remember feeling good that some people who didn’t know us cared enough to give us gifts. My mom, my 2 sisters, my brother and I all had a warm and pleasant Christmas in spite of everything. Being together and feeling the that holiday spirit was all that was needed to make a nice and memorable holiday.
http://www.facebook.com/AbnormalityOfficial
Shaun Murphy (The Summoned)
My most memorable Christmas moment was when I was about 16 my Uncle Pierre helped me get my first real Amp it was an old school Line 6 AX 2112 it was this digital model from the 90′s that ruled for tone and the thing screamed. I remember gigging with it and it being awesome! I was stoked to finally have something decent and I’ll never forget that no matter what, family always is there when you really need them. Happy Holidays keep the spirits high Namaste! Peace and Love.
http://www.facebook.com/thesummoned
Day 7:
Jerry Grannan (Aegaeon)
It’s difficult to sift through twenty years of Christmas memories, but I think I was happiest in my first gift giving experience. When I was five, I gave my brother, who was sick with the flu, a baseball (used, but it’s the thought that counts) for Christmas. I was so anxious and excited to see him open it, it was the first experience i had with giving during the holidays.
http://www.facebook.com/AegaeonUS
Felipe Roa (Acaro)
Chile is a catholic country but, catholic or not, it was never about a Savior being born. I only care about the presents Santa would bring me. So the way it goes down is, family gets together and have dinner on December 24th. Around 11:30, dad would say: Let’s go take a walk and see if we spot Santa. We as a family kept this tradition because of my sisters, the youngest one (12 years difference). Meanwhile Mom will stay home and put all the presents around the tree. I think that’s one of the differences between my country and here. We hide the presents and put them around the tree, like 10 minutes before midnight.
Before I forget, the other two differences are: 1. Nobody wears red shirts 2. Absolutely NO snow, it’s summer so it’s usually 80 degrees.
Ok, back to my story. I think the most important xmas was when I got my first electric guitar. I was 17 and I remember that I spent almost two years trying to find a lefty guitar. It was tough, Chile didn’t have a huge selection of music instruments, specially after the military dictatorship was over. So, one day with my dad found one in October and they tortured me saying that they don’t think they will get it for me because of my grades in stupid high school. I never care about high school, it was always more important to learn songs and play my acoustic guitar, play soccer or learn lyrics of the bands I liked back then such as Iron Maiden, Death, Queen and Slayer (still do of course). So, having in mind my horrible grades I gave up on the electric guitar we found. THE ONLY ONE in the whole country haha. So I grabbed an old microphone and put it inside my acoustic guitar, plugged into the mic input of my very small stereo, crank it all the way up and that was it, I had my first amp, with distortion. Ghetto as hell but that’s all I had. My parents and sisters hated that. It was so loud! Xmas night, and after the walk with the sisters and dad, I didn’t see any big box by the tree. I was pretty upset, opened a couple of presents and then walked to my room, I was ready to blast some Slayer and play along with my acoustic. Even though I had bad grades at school, I still had the hope of my parents giving me the electric for xmas. I was bullshit, so mad! Haha! Got to my room, turned on the lights and, there she was… My first electric guitar, an Epiphone, black body, white pick guard, three single coil pickups. I lost my voice yelling like crazy around the house: “FUCK YEAH!!!!!” Went to my parents room and thanked them a whole lot. They said, “you wanna play for us?” ”Yeah” We went back to my room, I looked around and there was a big box. Opened it. Peavey Studio Pro 110. Combo amp. I almost passed out. That was the happiest day of my life, the day I turned into a gear head. …and G.A.S started.
http://www.facebook.com/officialacaro
Robert Polanco (The Contagion Effect)
Well my most memorable christmas moment was a few years ago, I was playing a show with one of my ex-bands (Last Wish Of A Dying Man) and someone took a picture that I would never forget, I’m going to include the pic so you can see it your self, It wasn’t a big deal but is an awesome picture that reminds me of those days and it actually was a couple of days before christmas.
I have another christmas moment and it was when I was a little kid, and it was the day I caught my mom and big sister wrapping christmas gifts and they had to tell me that Santa didn’t exist hahaha!
http://www.facebook.com/TheContagionEffect
Day 8:
Vance Valenzuela (Vale of Pnath)
I would have to say one of the most fond Christmas memories I’ve had in recent years was a “Black Christmas” party our former bassist David York hosted at his house a few years back. As you you probably know, there was a lot of drinking and smoking involved. Any way, my friend and other guitarist Mikey Reeves and I shared a twin size bed with two girls and one other guy. Since the party was not over for us we laid awake in bed chanting songs from the movie “Cannibal the Musical!”. It may be one of those “you had to be there” experiences, but it is one of the memories that sticks out for during this shit holiday.
http://www.facebook.com/ValeOfPnathCO
RJ Connor (Mummified In Circuitry)
Let me start off by saying Christmas has generally been a tough time of year for me and my family. I lost my mother to cancer at the age of 5 on december 18th 1991. So pretty much from that point forward it was rough which makes my most memorable Christmas moment that more special to me. That would be the day my daughter was born, 12:04 am christmas day!
http://www.facebook.com/mummifiedincircuitry
Jash Teegarden (Ænimus)
Heading to Texas one year with the family to visit relatives, my whole family got sick except me. We were driving through Southern California and my brother decides to puke out the window while we’re moving… Puke goes out and comes back in through the back window and all over my other brother’s face. Hahahaha So funny!
http://www.facebook.com/Aenimus
Brian Lewis (Etched In Stone)
Probably when my parents gave me my first acoustic guitar. Solid spruce top w/ mahogany back and sides and Indian rosewood fretboard, jasmine by Takamine. I was 13 and even to this day, I still can’t put that thing down!”
http://www.facebook.com/EtchedInStoneMusic
Day 9:
Mike Fabiano (Bermuda)
Oh god..my most memorable christmas..probably when I was 16, I wanted a guitar so bad.I just wanted to start a band and play shows and all that gooey inner feeling type stuff. I begged and begged my dad, so he bought me a cheap mexican fender strat, and the worst 15watt crate combo ever.god awful.. but I had to wait until xmas to open it.im staring at that box for 2weeks waiting to get this thing in my hands. Its christmas day, so im as happy as can be.i run to the living room..and wat is there? A big mess of sloppy wet cat shit my cat snowy laid on the box….i knew that day.i was destined to play guitar.
http://www.facebook.com/BermudaCA
Casey Childers (The Kennedy Veil)
Mine would be when my grandma got me a pizza cooker. That is the greatess thing I have ever been given and it cooks pizza amazing….no joke!
http://www.facebook.com/thekennedyveil
Jeremy Remington (Behold Oblivion)
My most memorable christmas was when I was 9 years old and my mom and dad bought me my first guitar. It was a piece of shit from bradleys (its like a ghetto K-mart) but at that time I thought it was the greatest thing anyone could have ever given me. Its so memorable because that was the first time in my life when I got to play my first instrument. My parents were so cool and supportive of the whole music thing in general that I always think about that christmas. If it weren’t for them I wouldnt have gotten the chance to be where I am today.
http://www.facebook.com/Beholdoblivion
Shawn Patrick Peterson (The Kennedy Veil)
Being a a little Jehovah witness as kid sucked, I hated watching everyone getting presents and rubbing it in my face each and every fucking year. Now that im not a JW I celebrate it and rub it in other Jehovah Witness’s faces and OH IT FEELS GOOD!!!!!
http://www.facebook.com/thekennedyveil
Day 10:
Dorian Rainwater (Noisear)
My most memorable Christmas moment was at age 14 when I asked my mother if I could get an electric guitar. She agreed since I was doing well with my grades and picked me up from school about a week before Xmas vacation and we drove to the new guitar shop at the mall by our house. We looked at all the models they had and I found a Black Aria Pro II CT Series that was the most amazing guitar I had ever layed hands on at the time. Locking nut, A floyd rose, 24 fret rosewood neck, really hot sounding pickups and the smoothest action of any guitar I ever played. It was a dream come true kind of thing. I showed it to her and she said it was too much. I think it was like 600 bucks or something and we were not a really wealthy family at the time, so I looked around at the other guitars and nothing was really catching my eye. She pointed out a crappy Kay Starter guitar and I played it. I knew we were broke so I agreed to get that one and she said she would be coming back for it soon. I really wanted the Aria but I knew we had to get gifts for everyone so I stayed content and happy with whatever I was getting.
http://www.facebook.com/Noisear
Keith Bennett (PanzerBastard)
My favorite Christmas memory is the year I got my favorite gift of all time- NAVARONE! It was a huge playset based on the WWII movie ‘ The Guns Of Navarone’. It came with 100 American soldiers and 100 German soldiers, full size tanks & panzers, a half track, landing craft, pill boxes, barbwire, sandbag battlements and the peice de resistance- a huge mountain that was also a three level German fortress complete with machine gun turrets and three giant houwitzers. I still dream about how amazing that was. Every once in a while it will show up on ebay and one day I willl bite the bullet and treat myself to such an important part of my childhood.
I want to wish everybody a happy holiday season and wish you and yours health and happiness for 2012!
http://www.facebook.com/panzerbastardboston
Digestor (Ghoul)
My favorite Christmas memory is when I was accidentally left alone at home as a young child by my family, who went to Paris on vacation. I spent an exciting few days jumping on my bed, eating all the ice cream I could, and chasing away a duo of hapless burglars. What a merry adventure I had! Finally my family returned and we all had a great laugh and hugged each other and had the best Christmas ever. Then while they were sleeping I set the house on fire. They shouldn’t have left me alone like that.
http://www.facebook.com/GhoulunaticsAsylum
T (Dragged Into Sunlight)
I suppose it’s yet to come. Dragged Into Sunlight will spend this Christmas day 2011 recording the vocals to our 43 minute track ‘Widowmaker’ at Vagrant Studios in Liverpool, somewhat ironic really given that Christmas is about self-indulgence and relentless excess. I can’t remember another Christmas where the same wasn’t applicable. I got up at 2pm last Christmas day having decimated 6 bottles of wine the night before. My memory is pretty fucked but when I did get up, it was definitely an ugly state of affairs, ignoring the fact that my had dog shit everywhere.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dragged-Into-Sunlight/172105769500473
Day 11:
Jessie Sanchez (Bonded By Blood)
The most memorable Christmas was one I celebrated back in 1810. It was a cold night and father was busy working at the railroad tracks while mother made tamales at the old maze factory. I was walking back from an early afternoon of lollygagging when I came across a nickel on the ground. To my disbelief a UFO came down and zapped the nickle turning the coin into a quarter. We were able to afford Lobster for a whole month as a result
David DiSanto (Vektor)
We were on the road with Exmortus doing our first U.S. tour. We stayed at a Super 8 hotel for Christmas, which was pretty fancy for us, haha. It was a treat compared to sleeping in our freezing van. There was a truck stop diner about a half mile down the road, so we walked over to it. We got outside of the motel and the parking lot and roads were like an iceskating rink, covered in 2-3 inches of ice. We slid over to the diner and it was great. They put together a couple tables for us and we feasted! Good friends, good times, and the diner gave us free 2nd and 3rd helpings to our food!
Tom Martin (Lich King)
Well it’s not very terribly metal at all, but I’m a happy smell-the-roses kinda douchebag. I find that the memory I keep coming back to, and I guess that qualifies as “most memorable,” is the Christmas of 1984. That was the year that the Masters of the Universe SNAKE MOUNTAIN playset came out, and that’s what I asked for. Christmas morning there was a brownout and we could barely see anything- it was 6 AM and there wasn’t much light yet. We’re looking through the presents and dad walks over to the porch door. “Tommy, can you get this out of the way for me?” It was Snake Mountain. I was friggin’ delighted.
These days I’ve got two nieces that are still pretty little, so it’s weird but the best Christmasses of my life are the ones happening right now. I can’t wait to see them this weekend and watch them open presents.
I know I just killed a lot of my metal credibility with my dewey-eyed whimsy but screw it, if you’re so miserable that you can’t appreciate non-ironic holiday sentiment in addition to riffs, drinking and headbanging, you’re what’s wrong with metal and please die of sepsis. And Merry Christmas.
Dan Kowal (Skull Hammer/Ravage/Sonic Pulse)
I was going to say it was the time my Dad got me a bottle of whiskey when I was 20, but to be entirely honest, it was when my brother and I got a Nintendo 64 for Christmas. We pretty much reacted the same way as this kid.
Day 12:
http://www.facebook.com/gztvband
Ryan Mannie (Living With Giants)
My most memorable christmas moment was when I got my first guitar when I was about 4 years old. I remember that day just making what ever noise I could with it until I was watching TV with my sister and there was a Nirvana live video on and I saw Kurt Cobain smash his guitar on stage. Being a kid, I decided that would be a really cool thing for me to do. So needless to say, I don’t have that guitar anymore.
http://www.facebook.com/livingwithgiants
Josh Schmitt (Hope Before The Fall)
Well, a couple of years ago, with absolutely no provocation, my wife bought me a beautiful PRS single cutaway guitar. She had seen me playing it one day at Guitar Center, just screwing around. I had commented how it was one of the nicest guitars I had ever played but couldn’t justify buying it because I was just a hobbyist and this was a serious instrument. She went back the following week and got it for me. It was one of the most incredible gifts I’ve ever received because I know she sacrificed alot to get it for me and she knew me well enough to recognize, just seeing me play it in that moment, that I really wanted it.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hope-Before-The-Fall/192256638931
Cory Scheider (Casket Robbery, Second Soul, Luna Mortis)
My most memorable Christmas moment was when I got my first “real” guitar. I had a starter guitar for the first year or so that I started playing guitar. I cant remember the brand name. I remember my parents taking me into a music store in Madison, WI to pick up a new guitar. My guitar teacher at the time (Brian Koenig) recommended a Fender Strat so I was searching for the coolest and most affordable Strat. I found one in my favorite color blue. I still have that thing today. It still rocks and is pretty fun to play Yngwie Malmsteen licks on. It is my only guitar that can produce good clean guitar tones! All my other guitars are set up for metal.
http://www.facebook.com/casketrobbery - http://www.facebook.com/secondsoulband
Will Carroll (Death Angel)
Probably when I got the Star Wars Death Star playset in like 79. At the time that was the sickest playset out there. Even better than The Guns Of Narone playset i got the year before. Its been all downhill since then.
http://www.facebook.com/deathangel
